Things Authors Shouldn’t Do on Facebook

So here’s a list of 10 things you shouldn’t be doing on Facebook if you don’t want to alienate other people.

1.) Friend people and then instantly ask them to like your page.

2.) Try to get reviews by PMing people.

3.) Try to trade reviews with other authors.

4.) Add people to groups without asking.

5.) Break the rules in a group you don’t own.

6.) Criticize the writing of other authors in a public forum. Someone once mentioned that she thinks that Anne Rice, for example, doesn’t care what she thinks. Um, yeah, she does. Anne Rice is particularly attuned to critical reviews. And I’m sure she’ll remember who wrote them, just like I do!

7.) Post political things publicly. Unless you write politically charged books, just don’t. You don’t want Pringles to have a political stance, do you? Neither should authors.

8.) Post other controversial things publicly. Ditto.

9.) Try to get other authors to read and/or promote your books.

10.) Asking people to like your page multiple times.

I see these things all the time, and none of them are appropriate.

Note: It’s not that authors don’t want to cross-promote. I post 5+ new releases of other authors every week to my Facebook profile. It’s that the context needs to be appropriate, and these things aren’t the right way to go about promoting your book.